Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide

by Donald A. Ritchie

Book Overview

Oral history is vital to our understanding of the cultures and experiences of the past. Unlike written history, oral history forever captures people's feelings, expressions, and nuances of language. But what exactly is oral history? How reliable is the information gathered by oral history? And what does it take to become an oral historian? Donald A. Ritchie, a leading expert in the field, answers these questions and in particular, explains the principles...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195154347
• ISBN13: 9780195154344
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 318 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 9.1" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Oral history of family is priceless!

We first heard about this book on the radio back in early 1990s...it is a marvelous tool to guide an interview of grandparent or parent, or even self, to record one's memories and family history. The book provided a concise outline to follow so that family history, stories, and memories can be passed down on DVD or CD. We have used it with our parents and given copies to siblings and grandchildren, and learned the benefit following the passing of a loved one - priceless! We even plan to do ourselves for our children. Probably the best and most unique legacy to leave!

The methods of oral history

David Remnick's Lenin's Tomb deals with the fledgling days of the Soviet Union's collapse. Remnick interviews numerous people ranging from coal miners to Stalin's grandson, Yevgeny Djugashvili. Remnick's interview with Djugashvili ends with a toast; Djugashvili's toast is basically an apotheosis to Stalin, and ends with "to Stalin!" Remnick describes a wave of nausea, but complied with the toast. Remnick's professionalism, however difficult, is an example of the methods and ethics of conducting an interview, and the basis of Donald A. Ritchie's Doing Oral History. Ritchie's manual is structured as an interview, with questions that address the methods and ethics of conducting an oral history interview. Ritchie's manual places interviews in the social sciences and away from journalism. Doing Oral History is a fundamental manual on how to proceed with an interview, and for it to be grounded in method and ethics. Ritchie defines oral history: "Memory is the core of oral history, from which meaning can be extracted and preserved. Simply put, oral history collects memories and personal commentaries of historical significance through recorded interviews" (19). Ritchie's manual provides not only the legal and technical concerns of doing an oral history interview, but the fundamental methods of conducting a successful interview. The interviewee is the focus, and should not be forced into answers, because forceful interviewers risk inaccurate responses (122). The impulse to ask hard questions must be tempered, and creatively asked; Ritchie suggests quoting from another source, and allow the interviewee to respond to the quote instead of forceful questions. These examples of methodology and ethics while interviewing is the core of Doing Oral History, and the purpose is to provide future researchers with the most accurate interview that can be made; limiting disruptive variables such as forceful questions, and providing a primary source that can be trusted. Not only does Ritchie's manual describe the methods and ethics of doing oral history, but the fundamental reason for it. The sole purpose to record interviews is to deposit them into an archive for future research (111). The future researchers have more liberty to criticize and analyze the interviewee, than the interviewer originally had (122). Researchers that use oral history interviews can analyze them discretely like any source, and not be concerned necessarily with the feelings of the interviewee. The interview itself can be accurately studied, if it follows the methods and ethics of Doing Oral History; this manual presents the methods and concerns of a social scientist, and provides future researchers a source that can be trusted if its methods are followed. Donald A. Ritchie's Doing Oral History is a necessary manual to consult before engaging in an oral history interview. It provides the methods, ethics, and technical advice, to begin an interview. Beyond the meth

Know what you're doing

This book delivers on what it promises. Beware, however, that while the author addresses interviews conducted by individual researchers, the book isn't much good for people looking to do that sort of work. Oral history is a more specific kind of work than what your ninth grade history teacher may have led you to believe (go figure!). I still think that a chapter addressing interview techniques would have been appropriate in the structure of the whole book. As it is, the text is written in q & a format, which annoyed me slightly, but it serves. Verdict: useful for anyone looking to do oral history per se and wanting a guide to the various theoretical and practical issues involved.

The ABCs of Oral History

Ritchie covers the topic like a blanket. Everything from how to manage one's collection and stay out of legal trouble with the interviewee (and anyone you may discuss); down to remembering to punch out the little tabs on the back of each cassette in order to prevent accidental erasure.This is a very complete and very practical guide to the processes and thinking of our country's oral historians from an author who's been in the middle of some pretty interesting stories.